Vienna is world's most liveable city; New Delhi on 112, Mumbai 117

South Asian countries including India have fared poorly in a ranking of the world's most liveable cities topped by Austrian capital Vienna, with New Delhi figuring at 112th and Mumbai 117th position in a list of 140 cities.

Pakistan's financial capital Karachi and Bangladesh's capital Dhaka are among the world's least liveable cities in the annual Global Liveability Index released by The Economist.

War-ravaged Syria's capital Damascus is on the bottom of the list which comprises 140 cities globally.

The top 10 cities are Vienna, Melbourne, Osaka, Calgary, Sydney, Vancouver, Tokyo, Toronto, Copenhagen and Adelaide respectively, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report.

It is the first time that a European city has topped the rankings of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) annual survey.

Survey editor Roxana Slavcheva said that security has improved in "several western European cities" and Vienna's top place reflects "a relative return to stability across much of Europe".

"South Asian cities rank low in @TheEIU #Liveability index. Of the 6 we cover New Delhi top (112th) then Mumbai next at 117th," Chief Economist and Asia Managing Director at EUI Simon Baptist said.

The list ranks 140 cities on a range of factors, including political and social stability, crime, education and access to healthcare.

The 10 least liveable cities are Senegal's Dakar on 131, Algeria's Algiers 132, Cameroon's Douala 133, Libya's Tripoli 134, Zimbabwe's Harare 135, Papua New Guinea's Port Moresby 136, Karachi, 137, Nigeria's Lagos 138, Dhaka 139 and Damascus is on 140, the report said.

The EIU said that crime, civil unrest, terrorism or war played a "strong role" in the ten-lowest scoring cities.

The liveability index quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual's lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide, and assesses which locations provide the best living conditions, the EIU said.

The survey rates cities worldwide based on 30 qualitative and quantitative criteria, which fall into five general categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

The EIU, the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, describes itself as the world leader in global business intelligence.